Merry Christmas! Did anyone else get any music related gifts?

To get started, I totally know and respect the reason for the season. I deliberated for a few days about starting a 'gifts' thread on this forum... but I think we should celebrate the thoughful items we received this year, so hear goes!

My lovely wife got me a very nice surprise. When we saw the Acoustasonic Tele at the NAMM show in Anaheim last year, I knew I had found an instrument that would allow me to take my worship leading to a new level. I am not, however, the type of person who just runs around buying new stuff. I research the options and deliberate for months and months before making a purchase like this.

It's been a year since the NAMM show, (in January) and I now have the guitar I've been dreaming of! This means that I will not need to worry about bringing two guitars on Sunday, and wiring everything through an A/B switch and all that (to make it easier on the sound person). I can have the acoustic and electric sounds I need/want right at my fingertips and ready to go! I will talk to the soundperson about running two channels (so that I can run the acoustic and electric at the same time) on the board (we've got plenty of channels to spare) I am so very stoked!

I think the tele bridge is a major contributor to the 'tele twang'. That 'rockabilly' guitar from RS will do the gretsch thing much more than a tele tone, even though it's got a cut down tele bridge. I'd really like to get a Tele bridge sound on a strat, but I don't think it's possible without going hardtail.

I had a T type for a while - quite enjoyed it, and it had the BRANG in spades, but it got sold to help pay for a Gibson V (which didn't stay long at all).

The Squier CV tele has had some good reports from users I'd trust - they really liked the pine body and authentic sounding PUs. Obviously with Squier you need to try a few to find one worth owning, but I don't think it's more of a lottery than buying any other Fender.

Curiously, the brightest guitar I own is a Heritage H150 Classic 'Les Paul' made in Kalamazoo. I was really put off Duncan '59 pickups, because they were what came in the guitar as standard, and they were both thin/shrill and muddy at the same time. Having had a couple of sets of PUs in there, and now using vintage Gibson 'buckers (patent number in the bridge - really sweet toned - T top at the neck) the guitar is usable, but very sharp edged.

I had no idea a Les Paul could be tele-bright like that.

There's a lot of technique behind playing particular styles/types of guitar, and just owning a gretsch won't bring Stray Cat tone, unfortunately, just like owning an SG won't make one sound like Angus Young or Eric Clapton. I've found that if I want to play a different instrument then I need to live with it almost exclusively for a couple of months at least. When I finally found a Les Paul that sounded like all the classic Les Paul tones you hear I had to put away my strats and learn to play the new guitar. Same with the Godin xtSA, especially when using it as a synth controller.

I suspect if you want to play a Gretsch, Greg, you'll need to set aside the SG for a long while. BTW thanks for the amp schema.

But some guitars speak while others are dumb, and that may be why your SG is so special. I've been lucky enough to acquire a few that speak for themselves, and have sold on quite a few that haven't. At this stage I'd be quite happy to sell a couple more, just get down to a core of 5 or 6 really great instruments and 4 or 5 good amps.

I think part of Setzer's sound comes from playing through a 6G6 Blonde Bassman head. The color of the tolex is clearly the major contributor to the tone. You sound like an SG through Marshall kind of guy. I never saw anything in Dickey Betts' hands but a Les Paul - His style just fits it. Whatever makes you play is what you should play.